Dow Today: McDonald's Corporation (MCD) Higher

Editor's Note: TheStreet ratings do not represent the views of TheStreet's staff or its contributors. Ratings are established by computer based on metrics for performance (which includes growth, stock performance, efficiency and valuation) and risk (volatility and solvency). Companies with poor cash flow or high debt levels tend to earn lower ratings in our model.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) is trading up 36 points (+0.3%) at 14,433 as of Monday, Mar 11, 2013, 1:35 p.m. ET. During this time, 257.8 million shares of the 30 Dow components have changed hands vs. an average daily trading volume of 619.1 million. The NYSE advances/declines ratio sits at 1,576 issues advancing vs. 1,356 declining with 134 unchanged.

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The Dow component leading the way higher looks to be McDonald's Corporation (NYSE:MCD), which is sporting a six-cent gain to $98.77. This single gain is lifting the Dow Jones Industrial Average by 0.45 points or roughly accounting for 1.3% of the Dow's overall gain. Volume for McDonald's Corporation currently sits at 2.7 million shares traded vs. an average daily trading volume of 5.2 million shares.

McDonald's Corporation has a market cap of $97.36 billion and is part of the services sector and leisure industry. Shares are up 11.9% year to date as of Friday's close. The stock's dividend yield sits at 3.2%.

McDonald's Corporation franchises and operates McDonald's restaurants in the United States, Europe, the Asia/Pacific, the Middle East, Africa, Canada, and Latin America. Its restaurants offer various food items, soft drinks, coffee, and other beverages, as well as breakfast menus. The company has a P/E ratio of 18.1, above the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7.

TheStreet Ratings rates McDonald's Corporation as a buy. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, increase in net income, good cash flow from operations, growth in earnings per share and expanding profit margins. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had lackluster performance in the stock itself.

• You can view the full McDonald's Ratings Report.

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For more information on McDonald's Corporation click any of the following:

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• McDonald's Corporation Income Statement